In the high-tech, high-speed world of the twenty-first century, writing a love letter has become a thing of the past. Technology has advanced so much in recent years that e-mailing, texting and tweeting have almost completely replaced old-fashioned mail. People still rely on e-mails or text messages to convey their thoughts, but these electronic surrogates don’t have quite the same effect as receiving an old-fashioned letter that one can keep, touch and smell, that mysterious piece of paper sealed by the touch of the loved one’s hand. Moreover, the pressures and distractions of contemporary life are so many that lovers seldom stop to capture in words what they feel for one another.
Today it seems hard to believe that, not long ago, when separated from their loved ones by war, geographical distance, duty or simply by different schedules, people used the creativity of the written word to stay in contact with each other. In the past centuries, love letters were not only a luxury of the poets and writers. Artists, statesmen and men of all ranks and occupations used love letters to express their feelings toward their loved ones.
Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
King Henry VIII (1491-1547), a prominent figure in British history, is best known for breaking with the Catholic Church and establishing the Church of England. This gesture was not rooted as much in political motivation as in Henry’s obsessive passion for Anne Boleyn, a charming young lady he met in 1526, when he was still married to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. It took Henry seven years to annul his marriage to Katherine and finally become united with his great love, Anne, who refused to become his mistress and persuaded Henry to marry her. Some of the passionate letters Henry wrote to Anne were preserved and reproduced in collections such as Ursula Doyle’s Love Letters of Great Men.
“My heart and I surrender themselves into your hands, and we supplicate to be commended to your good graces, and that by absence your affections may not be diminished to us, for that would be to augment our pain, which would be a great pity, since absence gives enough, and more than I ever thought could be felt,” writes Henry in one of his letters to his beloved, exposing his vulnerability. “This brings to my mind a fact in astronomy, which is, that the further the poles are from the sun, notwithstanding, the more scorching is the heat. Thus is it with our love; absence has placed distance between us, nevertheless fervor increases – at least on my part,” he continues.
Henry, the most powerful of men in sixteenth-century England, signs his letter to Anne “this is from the hand of your servant and friend, H.R.” In the face of love, even the man who defied the Pope would become humble.
Lord Byron to Teresa Guiccioli
One of the most influential romantic poets, George Gordon Byron (1788 – 1824) is known to have been as passionate about love as he was about words. Some of his most ardent love letters have been preserved and published in a collection entitled Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals, edited by Leslie A. Marchand, giving posterity access to the love vocabulary of the British poet.
Byron was no stranger to female affection. First married to Annabella Milbanke, who left him after giving birth to their daughter, Ada, Byron later fell in love with Teresa Guiccioli, who became his life partner for almost six years (1818 – 1823). One of the love letters Byron wrote to Teresa testifies to the intensity of his feelings for her. “I more than love you, and cannot cease to love you. Think of me, sometimes, when the Alps and ocean divide us, – but they never will, unless you wish it,” Byron writes to the object of his affection.
Leo Tolstoy to Valeria Arsenev
Indisputably one of the greatest literary figures of the nineteenth century, Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is well known for a life of emotional and ideological turmoil. While in his later years Tolstoy embraced an ascetic philosophy, advocating total abstinence from life’s pleasures, the author’s biography, written by Andrew Norman Wilson and published in 1998, depicts Tolstoy’s early years as brimming with passion.
Before marrying Sofya Andreevna Bers, Tolstoy had a brief engagement with Valeria Arsenev, a young woman who lived in Tolstoy’s vicinity. For several years, Valeria occupied Tolstoy’s mind and heart, as illustrated by his detailed letters to her.
“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious – your heart, your soul. Beauty one could get to know and fall in love with in one hour and cease to love it as speedily; but the soul one must learn to know. Believe me, nothing on earth is given without labour, even love, the most beautiful and natural of feelings,” writes Tolstoy to his fiancée in 1856. “But the more difficult the labour and hardship, the higher the reward,” declares the author, ready to confront any obstacle that might arise in the path of his love.
Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine
People rarely think of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), the first French emperor, as a romantic. Napoleon is best known for expanding France’s political sphere of influence and creating a veritable French empire in the early nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the letters Napoleon wrote to his first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais, prove that the politically ambitious statesman was also a passionate lover.
Napoleon married Josephine in 1796 and, although he divorced her in 1810 because she failed to produce an heir, the two shared a passionate relationship.
“I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart!” he writes to Josephine in 1795.
“Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses. But give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire,” the conqueror of Europe ends his letter, conceding defeat in the face of passion.
Behind every letter lies the story of a human connection. Like most artifacts, love letters capture glimpses of life, immortalizing them. If the history of the world is made of events, the history of romance is an endless, glowing string of love letters.
References:
- Ursula Doyle. Love Letters of Great Men. St. Martin’s Press. New York: 2008.
- Paul Biryukov. Tolstoi’s Love Letters. Translated by S.S. Koteliansky and Virginia Woolf. Hogarth Press. Richmond: 1923.
- www.theromantic.com
- www.links2love.com
Iulia Filip - Born and raised in Romania, Iulia Filip currently resides in South Carolina, USA. She has graduated from the MFA Program in Creative ...
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